Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Fly Fishing Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Home Waters

Your home waters

Current Favorite Fly

If you only had one... (change anytime)

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Rate Thread

If you like, you can add a score for this thread.

Topic Review (Newest First)

06-05-2000 05:54 PM

juro

RE:Monomoy Gear & Schedules

There has been some discussion as to whether the green (dark olive) colored crabs are as effective as the calico crabs. I plan to tie both to see if it makes a difference.

I have only started to tie the circles, and have not yet used them. It will be great to test the effectiveness of the circle hooks in the place where they were intended to be used.

Note that I have not yet figured out the optimal weighting method for the circle crab. On 811s Tiemco's I use barbell eyes in the same manner as one would for clousers to keep the hook upright. For circle crabs, there may be a need to extend a section of a tubefly tube off the bend of the circle hook to get a proper weighting method for the strange shape of the hooks. I am also not pleased with the color choices of circle hooks.

If it keeps bass from getting hooked deep, I am a happy camper.

06-05-2000 05:45 PM

Jay C.

RE:Monomoy Gear & Schedules

Juro,

Got the crab recipes, the circle hook critter was the one I couldn't find - all set. Have you used the circle hooks yet and do you have any comments on how effective they are for the crab patterns? If not, we will put them to the test shortly.......

Jay

06-05-2000 02:48 PM

Jay C.

RE:Monomoy Gear & Schedules

Juro,

Do we have a good crab fly recipe that would work well on the flats ? I don't remember seeing a formula for a crab fly ?

See you Friday afternoon,

Jay

06-05-2000 02:19 PM

juro

RE:Monomoy Gear & Schedules

Good point Jay! Stainless hemostats are in my "all that jazz" category, as is a small flashlight, nail knot doll needle, ceramic hook hone, micro-leatherman, etc. In the back compartment extra flybox, extra spool, butt section leader spools, extra reel parts just in case, small knife, etc.

Related to your point though is the American Wire wire tippet, which based on Randy's and Jeff's reports we are probably going to need out there!

06-05-2000 01:53 PM

Jay C.

RE:Monomoy Gear & Schedules

Juro,

Super list and advice. I would add pliers that can take the salt and save your fingers to release a bluefish ! I hope we all will have that problem....getting pretty close.

Jay

06-05-2000 10:35 AM

juro

RE:Monomoy Gear & Schedules

Roop - the exclusive charter to south island will not be possible due to circumstances beyond our control. We will be fishing North Monomoy and South beach options.

All -

John provides great firshand advice. I'd add to the backpack note... if you have an inflatable life preserver bring it. If any of you do not swim you should be aware that there is no charter here (except while on the boat), no liability but your own. Be cautious to keep the wading to a minimum, and do not take chances out on the primitive refuge. The island is nothing but birds, sand, seals and stripers. Those who have fished it before, and off-duty shore guides like John will help answer questions and help people find fish - but the responsibility for safety is your own!

Backpack:

I carry a Sealine waterproof backpack to the island. It's sweathy on the back, but it contains:

Choose clothing that is appropriate for the weather. Layers make sense, you can always take something off but you can't create something to stay warm once you're out there.

Hot Weather...

On hot days, the best choice is a quick-dry flats-style shirt with long sleeves. The fabric is airy and the sleeves protect the arms from burn. Hands will require a little sunblock on the backs of the hands, but be careful not to wipe your mouth with the backs of your hands in the salty sun. Why? Tastes like ####.

Wading:

Breathable waders are the ticket, but wet wading is possible on warm days. My advice to wet waders is use polypropylene underwear, don't go bare under floppy shorts. You only need to get stung by organisms down there once to know what I mean. Sure, we swim without anything under the shorts but we don't often stand around for hours in tide flow. When swimming you avoid the soupy stuff, when fishing that's where the bait is. Also use the quick-dry shorts designed for this stuff. <b>If you wet wade, bring LOTS of bullfrog or other waterproof sunblock.</b> But stay down current of me please!

Shoes:

I like scuba boots. Whatever you use, the walking should be easy on sand because you'll be doing a lot of it. You don't have to do a lot of it - you'll find fish all over the place, but the really great spots are a good stroll apart on the island.

Hats / glasses:

You should definitely wear a hat and polarized glassed. Some prefer amber for the easy viewing, some prefer charcoal. I'm a charcoal kind of guy for flats viewing. But have the other tints in the truck just in case.

Note also that the back of the neck can get extrememly burned... some flats shirts have the flip-up collar, otherwise a hat with a desert rat flap will save you from some real discomfort around the neckline. Some of us will need to wear ties to work and it's no fun with lobstah neck.

Gear:

For the most part, a standard 9wt outfit with two lines will do the trick. If you have only an intermediate line, you'll be fine but it should be clear if possible. The second line should be a full sink / or QD style sinking head with intermediate running line. An 8wt will work but good luck landing a cow; a 10wt if sweet enough to cast all day and make gentle presentations would be even better. Unfortunately, the best balance of stealth and stoutness is usually in the 9wt class. I will be fishing my RPLXi 990-3 with a clear 444 intermediate and extra spool to field test the new Rio Deep Seas 300 grain "QD style" line for Bill Senegal (Rio rep).

If anyone is interested in testing the clear intermediate striper line from Rio, please email me privately.

I will be fishing 7-9 foot leaders with flourocarbon tippets on the end of the clear lines; but shorter leaders have historically worked fine for me on the sinking lines "between the humps".

Flies:

Because flats == sand eels and crabs, it's a must to have good looking flies to imitate these two morsels. The silverside and juive herring come next.

The juvie flounder, young searobins, chubs, and shrimp play an important role; but I won't be covering them this time around.

Squid flies will be along in case they make a push inside, and because they are around on the outside they will be fresh on the minds of the fish. Poppers in case of blues or a blitz situation, for sure. I'm bringing everything but it's critical to have sand eels, silversides, juvie herring and crabs covered in my box for this flats fishing game.

Here is my thinking for this weekend....I planned on bringing both an Intermediate (clear) and a Type 4 or 6 sinking line. My reasoning is that if the fish are not up on the flats, I want some other options to pursue. Last year on one of my trips, almost all of the fish taken where in deeper holes and not on the flats. I was fortunate to have the sinking line with me.

When it comes to flies, I plan on bringing a multitude of clousers in all white, chartrues and white, olive and white, and tan and white. They will have "heavy to bead chain eyes" on them to target different depths. I will also bring a few crab flies and some sand eel patterns. I also plan on bringing an extra 4 piece rod attached to my backpack and extra reel. It is an awful place to be should you break your rod or have a reel fail !!

Try to travel as lite as possible........bring water and minimal food in your pack in you are planning on staying from first to last shuttle.

The long range forcast I saw talks about very warm temps and lots of sun. Hopefully that forcast will hold.....Please let me know if you have any other questions and I can pass along my thoughts......

John

06-05-2000 08:49 AM

Roop

Monomoy Gear & Schedules

What's the ideal approach for this coming weekend?

I've always wanted to fish the rips at the end of the island but enjoy the flats as well. with the tides for this weekend is it possible to do both?

If so, then I guess it would make sense to bring the 9 weight with the clear inter. & 325QD.

Flies: clousers, crabs, eels.

Something those of you with common sense may have thought of already but, Ron taught me last year to use unweighted flies when the water got skinny.